What a hard worker my baby is!

Well... our baby Mia Amoré got her second tooth just 5 days after she cut her first first!! She looks so silly with teeth! =) It's always funny when babies get teeth - you've been so used to just seeing gums! Her jaw is opening up a lot more, which is wonderful! We finally got a device in the mail called a Thera Bite and it is supposed to slip inside Mia's mouth and then we can make it get bigger and bigger so we can work the jaw muscles. It's supposed to help with loosening up Mia's jaw. I haven't been with Mia in the mornings this past week, so I'm not sure if they've used the Thera Bite on her yet.

Mia hasn't been able to tolorate much of any ventilator weanings the past 2 weeks, so the RT's are letting her rest before they attempt any more weaning. She has been requiring just a little bit of oxygen, but it's just a little, so that's not too bad!

Mia is getting SO big!! Everytime I see her, I can't believe how long and chubby she is! She's almost 7 1/2 months old - time is flying by! My family had been wanting to have a shower for her since before she was born and it just didn't work out. We finally decided to plan one and everything was set to go to have it at the Children's Recovery Center's library (where they have all of the kids' birthday parties) for Saturday and yesterday. On Thursday, I found out that due to flu season, we weren't allowed to have the party after all and worse yet, the patients can't have ANY visitors with the exception of the patients' parents, grandparents and siblings.

That didn't stop the shower, though! My sister in law, Jen, opened up her home and we combined both days and had the party Saturday evening. It was a bummer to me that Mia couldn't be there, but I had to keep in mind that at most showers, the babies aren't there anyway! =) All the guests were looking forward to seeing and meeting Mia, but they understood.

Sheila, one of the RT's, is going to really get started on training both Robert and I so we can get Mia out and about so we can go for walks. I had to get around this band somehow! There's no way Mia's Auntie's and Uncle's can wait until after flu season to see their baby!

The way I'm hoping people can still come to see Mia is to meet us outside of the building (of course as long as you're in good health and haven't been known to be exposed to the swine flu or flu.) Or we can take Mia to her bedroom window and people can see her through the window. =)

Robert's job is going well. He finally has a desk and chair, so at least he's a little happier that he doesn't have to find a place to put his stuff! He's disappointed because he's not doing much - he thought he'd be teaching, but that's not the case at the moment. One of these days I'll have him write about his work for anybody that's interested. =)

We put another offer on a house and it turned out to not be the one for us! The offer didn't get accepted, so we're on the search again... keep praying for God's will!

Mercedes is liking school... she calls it School Trailer. haha She's such a perfectionist, so that's the main thing we're dealing with. She cries and says she can't do it (tracing letters, numbers, shapes, etc) and she's taking encouragement well, either! But when I don't ask her to trace, she does it perfectly! When I praise her for doing such a good job, she cries again and says she can't do it! Crazy child!! She's having fun, though, so at least I have her attention. She loves her flash cards, playing with Play-Doh, her alphabet magnets and playing Candy Land. One of my dear friends said she has a book of great ideas that she's going to lend me, which I'm excited about!! Just pray for Mercedes that she'll be willing to learn and willing to make "mistakes" and for me that I will be able to figure out a way to teach her that will work for both of us! =)

I've been trying to get back to the gym, but I haven't been in about 3 weeks!!! Today I am going with Renee, though, and I'm going to go as often as I can. I had wanted to "feel good" for my birthday and that's next week, so I'm still trying!! haha We'll see if I accomplish anything!

My allergies have been so terrible this past week and they're not getting any better! I've been scared about trying allergy shots, but I think I'm just going to need to look into it... because I've lived with my sinus issues WAY too long and I don't want to keep having sinus surgery every 2 years! Pray for me in this area, too... being so congested totally wipes out my energy even more, so it's definitely been hard.

I don't know where my camera is at the moment, but as soon as I find it, I'll add pictures. =)

Love you all,
Rachael <3